Fallen Pleasure

Why is it that something so integral to each of us – something we all share in – our sexual gratification, is so taboo? And how is it that we have come to define this pleasure in frameworks that are seen as either socially acceptable or fallen and forbidden? It may be age-old, but sex and erotica remain firmly taboo, regardless of how liberal we may we feel we or our societies have become. Yet it all comes to down to a base, raw sensation most of us are familiar with – a moment in time: simple, unrefined, real. For me, my artwork 'Fallen Pleasure' captures this moment with electricity. Yet as an onlooker we blush, look away – feel as though we have intruded. And we notice in this young woman's pleasure not just the taboo of the intrusion – of capturing her orgasmic face, pure pleasure and unrestrained moment – but also the taboo of her surrounds, her get-up, her makeup... the nature of it all. Yet she seems freed and happy – so why do we blush?